Chapter 2

GPS Signal Structure

2.1 Introduction

Navigation is the process of directing a moving vehicle or a person from one known

place to another known place. In order to control the increased air traffic efficiently, modern

navigation systems have to be used. The modern navigation systems use transmission and

reception of EM waves for position determination and they can be classified into two types:

ground based navigation systems and satellite based navigation systems. The ground based

navigation systems in use are VHF Omni directional range navigation system (VOR),

Distance Measuring Equipment (DME), Instrument Landing System (ILS), Long Range Aid

to Navigation C (LORAN C), DECCA (Dedicated Englishmen Causing Chaos Abroad) and

Non Directional Beacon (NDB). The ground based navigation systems suffer from

propagation limitations, low accuracy and compatibility between various communication,

navigation and surveillance (CNS) systems in different parts of the world. In spite of these

limitations, the ground based navigation systems are still in use in India.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) comes under the modern navigation system and

it has been a major breakthrough in the field of navigation. While, the un-augmented satellite

based navigation systems provides positional accuracy of 30m in horizontal direction and

45m in vertical direction (Parkinson, 1996). In civil aviation sector, aircraft landing phase is

the most crucial one. The landing phase of an aircraft requires an accuracy of 16m in

horizontal and 4.5m to 7m in vertical directions. To meet the requirement of CAT I precision

approach landing the GPS based aircraft navigation and landing needs precise estimation of

navigation solution. In this chapter, the principle of operation of various ground based

navigation systems is described and these concepts are helpful in understanding the principle

of operation of satellite based navigation systems. The GPS satellite signal structure,
modulation techniques and satellite geometric configurations are presented in detail which

are essential in defining the navigation problem and developing the navigation solution.

2.2 Modern Ground based Navigation Systems

Navigation systems can be classified into two types. They are primitive methods of

navigation systems and modern navigation systems. Piloting, Dead reckoning, Celestial and

Inertial navigation are four primitive methods of navigation which give approximate „position

fix‟. Modern navigation systems use transmission and reception of EM waves for position

determination. These are classified as, i) ground based navigation systems and ii) satellite

based navigation systems. The ground based navigation systems include VOR, DME, ILS,

MLS, LORAN C, OMEGA, DECCA and Non NDB. Each navigation aid serves a different

purpose. The primary navigational aids used in India are VOR and ILS (Kayton and Fried,

1997). The satellite based navigation systems include Navy Navigation Satellite System

(TRANSIT), Global Positioning System (GPS), GALILEO, and Global Orbiting Navigation

Satellite System (GLONASS).

2.2.1 Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range (VOR)

VOR is a short range navigation aid operating in the VHF band of the radio spectrum.

VOR provides azimuthal guidance to an aircraft with respect to the magnetic north of the

earth. The bearing can be determined from comparison of the two signals (carrier mode

signal and sideband mode signal). It operates in the 108 MHz-118 MHz frequency range.

VOR transmits an omnidirectional reference signal (30Hz AM signal) and a variable signal

(30Hz FM signal on a sub carrier) from rotating highly directional antennas. The phase of the

variable signal is electronically varied according to the absolute direction. The relative phase

of the AM and FM signals vary with azimuth. The VOR receivers can obtain their heading

with respect to magnetic north, from the VOR beacon to an accuracy of 1-20 which

corresponds to 7-14km position accuracy at maximum range. The user (eg. aircraft receiver)
can calculate its heading from the phase difference it is experiencing. VORs are of two types,

namely conventional VOR (CVOR) and Doppler VOR (DVOR). Even though both VORs

serve the same purpose as far as the aircraft is concerned, the selection of the CVOR and

DVOR depends upon the various site conditions in an airfield. Presently DVORs are in use

all over the world.

2.2.2 Instrument Landing System (ILS)

The instrument landing system is the primary precision approach facility for civil

aviation. A precision approach is being one in which both glide slope and track guidance are

provided. ILS effectively guides the aircraft both in elevation and azimuth. Lobe switching is

employed for both elevation and azimuthal guidance in a straight path. It operates in the

frequency range of 110-330MHz.

2.2.3 Microwave Landing System (MLS)

In contrast to ILS, MLS provides position information in a wide coverage sector and

is determined by an azimuth angle measurement, an elevation angle measurement and a range

measurement. The MLS uses two narrow beams which are scanned to and from in the

elevation and azimuth sectors. The elevation and azimuth scanning beam signals are time

multiplexed into an allotted time frame. It operates in the 1-5GHz frequency range. MLS was

designated by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the new world standard for

precision landing in 1998. But due to the reluctance of both service providers and aircraft

operators to use MLS (due to its high cost) and the advent of satellite based guidance

technology (i.e. GPS), ICAO recommended that ILS be retained as an alternate until satellite

based precision landing technology could be fully evaluated.

2.2.4 Long Range Aid to Navigation C (LORAN C)

LORAN is a terrestrial navigation system using low frequency radio transmitters that

use the time interval between radio signals received from three or more stations to determine
the position of a ship or aircraft. The current version of LORAN which is commonly used is

LORAN-C. In LORAN C system the transmitter‟s forms chains, each compromising a master

and 2-5 secondary stations. Loran signals are all transmitted on a 100 KHz carrier with a 20

KHz double sided bandwidth and vertical polarization. Loran transmitters within a chain

transmit in turn, a form of TDMA. Each transmission comprises a group of eight 500μs

pulses, starting 1ms part, with master stations adding an additional pulse 2ms, after the eighth

pulse. Each transmitter repeats at a constant interval between 50 and 100ms, known as the

group repetition interval.

2.2.5 OMEGA

OMEGA is a very long-range, very low frequency (VLF) radio navigation system

operating in the internationally allocated navigation band between 10-14 KHz. OMEGA is

based on phase differencing techniques rather than time differences. A pair of transmitting

stations provides the navigation with a family of hyperbolic lines of position. Eight

transmitting stations with 5000-6000nmi baselines give global coverage. OMEGA is used

primarily because it satisfies the three R‟s – Reliability, Redundancy and Range which was

observed by a stringer at a meeting of the British Institute of Navigation (Kayton and Fried,

1997).

2.2.6 Dedicated Englishmen Causing Chaos Abroad (DECCA)

The DECCA navigator system is a hyperbolic low frequency radio navigation system.

DECCA works by taking observations from pairs of six transmission stations using phase

differencing techniques. These give rise to hyperbolic lines of position. It operates in the 70-

130 KHz frequency range.

2.2.7 Non-Directional Beacon (NDB)

NDB is an oldest form of radio navigation still in use. It transmits non directional

signals in the low frequency (LF) or medium frequency (MF) range (190-535 KHz). There
are four types of NDB usages: i) Compass locators, ii) Approach aids (25nmi), iii) En-route

beacon, iv) High power beacons-used in some coastal areas. NDB is used as an en-route

navigational aid. When NDB is used in conjunction with the ILS markers, it is called a

Compass Locator. The airborne equipment used for receiving the NDB signal is called

Automatic Direction Finder (ADF). The ADF consists of Amplitude Modulation (AM)

receiver, sense antenna, loop antenna (directional antenna) and indicator (fixed or movable

card). The magnetic bearing to the station is determined in the following way using the fixed

card.

MB (to the station) =MH + RB

where, MH = aircraft magnetic heading, RB = Relative bearing and MB = Magnetic Bearing.

NDBs are subject to disturbances that may result in erroneous bearing information.

The main limitations are: i) fading, ii) night effect, and iii) shoreline effect. Fading usually

occurs at night when the ground and sky waves interact and are going in and out of “phase”

causing the signals to be either cancelled or reinforced as the atmosphere changes. During

fading, pilots will notice a rhythmic swinging of the needle and a volume fluctuation of the

identifier.

2.3 Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)

At present, GPS is the only one GNSS that operates with full constellation contains 32

satellites which are more than the nominal 24 satellites. The first GPS satellite was launched

on February 22, 1978. Full operational capability of GPS was achieved on July 17, 1995

(Andrew T. Y., 2004). The GPS is designed and developed to provide precise position,

velocity and timing information on a global common grid system to an unlimited number of

suitably equipped users. All over the world, a minimum of 8 to 12 GPS satellite signals are

available and are fully operational, providing services to both civilians and military. GPS

provides accurate 3D user position anywhere in the world under all weather conditions. This
system is time-tested, reliable and available to all users independent of geography. It is

primarily designed as a land, marine and aviation navigation system. GPS applications are

expanded to include surveying, space navigation, automatic vehicle monitoring, emergency

services dispatching, mapping, geographic information system etc. The dissemination of

precise time is an integral part of GPS hence a large community of precise time and

frequency standard users has come to depend on GPS as a primary source of control to global

time and frequency standards.

The GPS navigation system allows a GPS receiver to determine its position and time

at any place using the measurement of distance between the satellite and the receiver and

satellite position in the space. The satellite positions are estimated using the satellite orbital

data broadcast. The GPS receivers process the satellite range measurements and provide its

position. GPS receivers calculate the position of a vehicle in 2D or 3D space using a

mathematical process called trilateration. This concept works in the following manner:

i) If the receiver knows the exact distance from a satellite in space, it means that the

receiver is somewhere on the surface of an imaginary sphere with satellite as center

and radius equal to known distance to the satellite.

ii) If receiver knows exact distance from two satellites, it means that it is located

somewhere in the plane where the two spheres intersect whose radius is equal to the

known distances.

iii) And, if a third and fourth measurement are available from two more satellites, the

receiver can find its exact location.

The capability of GPS to determine the three-dimensional (3D) location of an aircraft without

any equipment other than a single GPS receiver is referred to as GPS single-station

positioning or absolute positioning. In literature, solution to single-station positioning

problem makes use of iterative algorithms such as recursive least-squares algorithm, Kalman
Filter and extended Kalman filter etc., all these algorithms require an initial guess of the GPS

receiver‟s position. For most of the ground and airborne applications initial guess of the

receiver‟s position can be calculated by simple visualization. The advantages of GPS are that

intentional interference like Jamming and unintentional interference will have least affect.

This is because of the use of spread spectrum techniques in GPS. Furthermore accuracy can

be improved to the order of centimeters using different techniques like Differential GPS

(DGPS), Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) and GPS Aided GEO Augmented

Navigation System (GAGAN) etc.

2.4 GPS Architecture

The GPS comprises of three segments: satellite constellation, ground

control/monitoring network and user receiving equipment (Kaplan, 1996). The formal terms

for these components are space, operational control and user equipment segments

respectively.

 Space (satellite system): The space segment comprises of the satellites which

broadcast position and timing signals as well as other messages.

 Ground Control: Control segment deals with the management of the satellites

operations. The various functions performed by this subsystem are updating

information disseminated by each satellite, monitoring satellite health, controlling

satellites and so on.

 User (GPS receivers): This subsystem receives signal from the satellites to determine

information like position, time, and velocity.

The basic elements of the GPS are given in Figure 2.1

2.4.1 Space Segment

The space segment consists of the constellation of 32 operational satellites. The basic

functions of the satellites are to:

  Receive and store data transmitted by the control segment stations.

 Maintain accurate time by means of several onboard atomic clocks.

 Transmit information and signals to users on two L-band frequencies.

 Provide a stable platform and orbit for the L-band transmitters.

Space Segment

GPS satellites orbiting at an altitude of

20,200km in six orbital planes

(L1, L2 and L5
frequencies)

Ephemeris and
clock corrections,
ionospheric coefficients for single 1) Pseudorange data,
frequency receiver current ephemeris,
Pseudorange data on (L1, clock corrections,
L2 and L5 frequencies) ionospheric data
User Segment

Control Segment Receiver

Position,
Monitor Master control Upload Velocity
stations station stations and Time

Figure 2.1 Basic elements of the GPS

Each GPS satellite transmits a signal which has several components: Two sinusoidal

waves (also called as carrier frequencies), two digital codes and a navigation message. Codes

and the navigation message are added to the carriers using binary bi-phase modulations. The
COLORADO
carriers and codes are used toSPRINGS
determine distance from GPS receiver to the GPS satellites.

The navigation message contains the orbital parameters as a function of time. The transmitted

signals are controlled by highly accurate atomic clocks onboard the satellites. Satellites are

arranged in such a way that four satellites each are placed in the six orbital planes (Hoffman,

1994). The satellite orbits are nearly circular with a separation of 600, an inclination of about

550 to the equator, with an altitude of 20,200km above the earth and a period of

approximately 11hours 58min. The satellites transmit two spread-spectrum pseudo random
noise (PRN) ranging codes along with the navigation data message at two frequencies, L1

(1575.42MHz) and L2 (1227.60MHz) which are derived from highly stable on-board atomic

clocks.

2.4.2 Control Segment

Control segment of GPS system consists of worldwide network of tracking stations or

monitoring stations with a master control station located in the United States at Colorado

Springs, Colorado. Primary function of control segment is tracking the GPS satellites in order

to determine and predict satellite locations, system integrity, behaviour of satellite atomic

clocks, atmospheric data, the satellite almanac and other considerations. The control segment

comprises of three different physical components namely

i) Master control station

ii) Monitor stations

iii) Ground antennas.

i) Master control station: Tracking of satellites is done by unmanned monitoring

stations. These unmanned monitoring stations passively track all GPS satellites visible

to them at any given moment and collect the signal data from each satellite. This

information is passed to master control station at Colorado via a secure defense

satellite communication system where satellite position, clock timing data etc., are

estimated and predicted. Then the master control station periodically sends the

corrected position and clock timing data to appropriate ground antennas which then

upload those data to each of the satellites. Now the satellites use that corrected

information in the data transmission down to end user.

ii) Monitor stations: There are four more monitoring stations located at Hawaii,

Ascension Island, Diego Garcia and Kwajalein. The monitor stations track GPS

satellites by making pseudorange measurements to each satellite in view using both L1

 and L2 GPS satellite down link frequencies. This information is transmitted to the

master control station via a communication link for data processing.

iii) Ground antennas: The three upload ground antennas are co-located with the four

monitor stations at Ascension Island, Diego Garcia and Kwajalein. It provides a means

of commanding and controlling the satellites and uploading the predicted clock and

ephemeris information in the form of navigation message and other data via S-band (2-

4 GHz) link.

2.4.3 User Segment

User segment includes all military and civilian users with a single frequency or dual

frequency GPS receiver connected to a GPS antenna. The user can receive the GPS signals,

which can be used to determine his or her position anywhere in the world. The sequence of

events can be summarized as follows. The receiver unit receives a signal from the satellite,

which is traveling at the speed of light. The signal takes a certain finite time to reach the

receiver from the satellite. The difference between the time that the signal is sent and the time

that it arrives at the receiver is multiplied by the speed of light, which enables the receiver to

calculate the distance to the satellite. This results in finding the distance between the GPS

receiver and the satellite. Now the precise longitude, latitude and altitude values are required.

For that, the receiver measures the time it took for the signals from at least four separate

satellites to reach the receiver. If there are more satellite signals available, it will result in

much more accurate values. Table 2.1 gives an overview of the GPS segments.

Segment Entrance Function Product

Space Navigation message, 1. Provides a scale of atomic
Commands time
2. PRN code signal generation
3.Stores and transmit the
navigation message
1.pseudorandom RF signals
2.Navigation message
3.Telemetry
 Control pseudorandom RF 1.Calibration of time scale 1.Navigation message,
signals, 2.Ephemeris prediction 2.Commands
Telemetry, UTC 3.Keeps the spatial segment
active
User Pseudorandom RF Solves navigation equations 1.Position (Lat, long and
signals, height)
Navigation message 2.Velocity
3.Time
Table 2.1 Information flow between segments

2.5 GPS signal components

The GPS transmitted signal consists of the following three components (shown in

Figure 2.2). They are:

i) Carrier

ii) Ranging code

iii) Navigation data

These three components of a signal (namely carrier, code, and navigation data) are

derived coherently from one of the atomic standards on board the satellite. The frequency of

the atomic standards on board a satellite is 10.23MHz. The GPS signal parameters are listed

in Table 2.2

P-code (10Mbps)
1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1

C/A-code (1Mbps)
1 0 1 0

Navigation message (50bps)

1 0

L1 carrier (1575.42MHz)
Figure 2.2 Schematic of GPS transmitted signal components on L1 carrier
t
Parameter C/A signal P (Y) signal
Carried on L1 only L1 ,L2
Centre frequency 1575.42MHz 1227.60MHz
 Code length (chips) 1023 15,345,037bits long
Chipping rate 1.023Mbps 10.23Mbps
Code type Gold code Pseudorandom
Repetition rate 1ms 1 week
Chip width 293m 29.3m
Navigation message data rate 50bps 50bps
Feature Easy to acquire Precise positioning and jamming resistant
Table 2.2 GPS signal parameters

2.5.1 Carrier

Currently GPS signal contains two frequency components: link 1 (L1) and link 2 (L2).

The center frequency of L1 is at 1575.42MHz and L2 is at 1227.6MHz. The corresponding

carrier wavelengths are approximately 19 cm and 24.4 cm respectively. At present, the L1

carrier is modulated with C/A and P-codes, whereas L2 is modulated with P-code only. The

advantage of having two carrier frequencies is that the ionospheric delay error can be

removed. As part of the modernization of the GPS signals; the first plan is to add a third

frequency to the current dual-frequency system. This L5 frequency (1176.45MHz) is

expected to be transmitted by the GPS satellites from 2015. A new code will be modulated

onto this L5 signal. It is also planned that similar to L1 signal, L2 carrier wave will be

modulated with the C/A code. For military users, a new military (M) code will be added to

the current P-code (for both L1 and L2 signals). These codes are added to the last 12 Block

II-R satellites. The new civil signals (L2C and L5) provide innovative properties that result in

performance improvements. Table 2.3 gives an overview of the GPS frequencies.

Carrier signal Frequency, f (MHz) Wavelength, λ (cm)

L1 154×10.23=1575.42 19.03
L2 120×10.23=1227.60 24.42
L5 115×10.23=1176.45 25.41
Table 2.3 GPS frequencies

2.5.2 Pseudorandom Noise (PRN) code

 Each satellite is assigned a unique sequence of 0‟s and 1‟s which allow the receiver to

determine the signal transmission time instantaneously. These sequences are randomly

generated. These sequences called pseudorandom noise (PRN) sequences or PRN codes have

special properties which allow all satellites to transmit at the same frequency without

interfering with each other. These sequences also allow precise range measurements and

reduce the deleterious effects of reflected and interfering signals received by a GPS antenna.

Each satellite transmits two different codes. They are

i) Coarse/acquisition (C/A) code

ii) Precision (encrypted) (P(Y)) code

C/A-code: The C/A code is a bi-phase modulated signal. Each C/A code is a unique sequence

of 1023bits, called chips, which is repeated for every millisecond. The duration of each C/A

code chip is about 1μsec, i.e. the chip width or wavelength is about 300m. The rate of the

C/A code chips called chipping rate is 1.023MHz (mega chips/sec). Therefore, the null-to-

null bandwidth of the main lobe of the spectrum is 2.046MHz. Each chip is about 977.5nsec

(1/1.023MHz) long. The transmitting bandwidth of the GPS satellite in the L1 frequency is

approximately 20MHz to accommodate the P-code signal; therefore, the C/A code contains

the main lobe and several side-lobes. With a chip rate of 1.023MHz, 1,023chips last 1msec;

therefore, the C/A code is 1ms long. This code repeats itself every millisecond (see Figure 2.3).

1
0
1 ms

Figure 2.3 Pseudorandom Noise code for C/A PRN code properties

P-code: The P-code is a unique segment of a long (  1014chips) PRN sequence with a

chipping rate of 10.23Mbps i.e., ten times that of a C/A code and the chip width is about

30m. The smallest wavelength results in greater precision in the range measurements than
that of the C/A codes. The P-codes repeat for one week. Encrypted P-codes called Y-codes

are also being transmitted to limit access to authorized users only. The P-code is bi-phase

modulated at 10.23MHz. Therefore, the null-to-null bandwidth of the main lobe of the

spectrum is 20.46MHz. The chip length is about 97.8nsec (1/10.23MHz). The code is

generated from two PRN codes with the same chip rate. One PRN sequence has

15,345,000chips, which has a period of 1.5sec, the other one has 15,345,037chips and the

difference is 37chips. The two numbers, 15,345,000 and 15,345,037 are relatively prime.

Therefore, the code length generated by these two codes is 23,017,555.5 (1.5  15,345,037)

sec, which is slightly longer than 38weeks. However, the length of the P-code is 1 week as

the code resets every week. This 38-week long code is divided into 37 different P-codes and

each satellite uses a different portion of the code. The navigation data rate carried by the P-

code through phase modulation is 50Hz.

2.5.3 Navigation data

Navigation data describes the binary coded message consisting of data about the

health of satellite, ephemeris, clock bias parameters and an almanac giving reduced precision

ephemeris data on all satellites in the constellation. The navigation message is transmitted at

50bps, with bit duration of 20ms. It takes 12.5minutes for the entire message to be received.

The essential satellite ephemeris and clock parameters are repeated every 30sec. Each GPS

satellite continuously transmits navigation message that include i) the time at which the

message was transmitted ii) the precise orbital information known as ephemeris iii) the
Navigation message = 25 pages ~ 12.5 min
general satellite system health, clock and
Frame = 1500 bits ~ 30 s ~ 5 subframes
ionospheric error correction parameters
1 2 3 25 pages
and iv) orbits of all GPS satellites, the
4 5
almanac.

Subframe = 10 words ~ 6 s
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Word = 30 bits ~ 0.6 s bit

~ 20 ms
 Figure 2.4 Structure of the navigation message

The GPS navigation message consists of time-tagged data bits marking the time of

transmission of each sub-frame at the time they are transmitted by the Satellite vehicle (SV).

A data bit frame consists of 1500bits divided into five 300bit sub-frames. A data frame is

transmitted for every 30sec (Sirola, 2002). Three 6sec sub-frames contain orbital and clock

data. SV clock corrections are sent in sub-frame one and SV orbital data sets (ephemeris data

parameters) for the transmitting SV are sent in sub-frames two and three. Sub-frames four

and five are used for transmitting different pages of system data. The structure of the

navigation message is illustrated in Figure 2.4. An entire set of twenty-five frames (125 sub-

frames) makes up the complete navigation message that is sent over a 12.5minute period.

Data frames (1500bits) are sent every 30sec. Each frame consists of five sub-frames. Data bit

sub-frames (300bits transmitted over 6sec) contain parity bits that allow data checking and

limited error correction.

2.6 Basic GPS Concept

The position of a certain point in space can be found from distance measured from

this point to some known positions in space. A few examples illustrate this point. In Figure

2.5, the user position is on the x-axis; this is a one dimensional case. If both the satellite

position, S1 and the distance to the satellite, r1 are known, the user position can be at two
places, either to the left or right of S1. In order to determine the user position, the distance to

another satellite with known position should be measured. In this Figure 2.5, the positions of

S2 and r2 uniquely determine the position of the user, U. Figure 2.6 shows a two-dimensional

case. In order to determine the position of the user, three satellites and three distances are

required. The trace of a point with constant distance to a fixed point is a circle in the 2D case.

Two satellites and two distances give two possible solutions because two circles intersect at

two points. A third circle is needed to uniquely determine the user position. In a three-

dimensional case, four satellites and four distances are needed. The distance trace to a fixed

point is a sphere in a 3D case. Two spheres intersect to form a circle. This circle intersects

with another sphere to produce two points. In order to determine which point is the user

position, one more satellite is needed.

r1 r1 r2

S1 U S2

Figure 2.5 One-dimensional user position

r2

S2
r1

U
S1

r3
S3

Figure 2.6 Two-dimensional user position

In GPS, the satellite position is determined from the ephemeris data transmitted by the

satellite. Using the ephemeris data the distance from the receiver to the satellite can be

measured. Therefore, the position of the receiver can be determined. The distance measured

from the user to the satellite is assumed to be very accurate and there is no bias error.
However, the distance measured between the receiver and the satellite has a constant

unknown bias, because the user clock is different from the GPS clock. In order to resolve this

bias error, one more satellite is needed. Therefore, in order to find the user position five

satellites are needed. If one uses four satellites and the measured distances are with bias error

then there are two possible solutions. However, one of the solutions is close to the surface of

the earth and the other one is in space. Since the user position is usually close to the earth‟s

surface, it can be uniquely determined.

2.6.1 Basic Equations for finding User Position

In this section, the basic equations for determining the user position are presented.

Assume that the distance measured is accurate and under this condition, four satellites are

sufficient. In Figure 2.7, there are four known points at locations (x1, y1, z1), (x2, y2, z2), (x3,

y3, z3), (x4, y4, z4) and an unknown point at (xu, yu, zu). Assume that the user starts its clock at

tu seconds, receives signals at ti (i = 1, 2, 3, 4) seconds from SV and t is the time offset

between the GPS receiver and SV. User‟s position (in 3D) and time offset are obtained by

simultaneously solving the nonlinear equations (Hoffmann-Wellenof et al, 2001). So the four

equations which relate the user position, satellite position and pseudorange measurements are

( xu  x1 )2  ( yu  y1 )2  ( zu  z1 )2  [c(t1  tu  t )]2

(2.1) ( x  x )2  ( y  y )2  ( z  z )2  [c(t  t  t )]2

u 2 u 2 u 2 2 u

(2.2) ( x  x )2  ( y  y )2  ( z  z )2  [c(t  t  t )]2

u 3 u 3 u 3 3 u

(2.3)

( xu  x4 )2  ( yu  y4 ) 2  ( zu  z4 ) 2  [c(t4  tu  t )]2

(2.4)

where (xu, yu, zu) is the unknown user position and c is the free space velocity of

electromagnetic signals in m/s.

SV1 SV3
SV2
(x3, y3, z3)
(x1, y1, z1) (x2, y2, z2) SV4

(x4 ,y4, z4)

 Figure 2.7 Use of four known positions to find one unknown receiver position

By solving the above four equations simultaneously the four unknowns (x u, yu, zu, Δt)

can be found (Rao, 2010). In addition to pseudorange measurement, user also measures

Doppler frequency shift of carrier signal from each satellite and uses this information to

compute the velocity.

2.7 GPS Signal Structure

The GPS system must provide an authorized user with a 10m or less rms position

error, which translates to a required accuracy of pseudorange measurement of the order of

11ns. The GPS choose to accomplish this required accuracy with a 10.23Mbps precision P-

code. Two other GPS objectives, rapid acquisition of the P-code and providing a lesser

accuracy for the civil user are achieved by the use of civil Coarse/Acquisition (C/A) code,

which has a 1.023 Mbps chip rate and a code period of 1023 chips. Civil users do not have

access to the P(Y) code when the P-code is in the anti-spoof (AS) Y-code mode. The GPS L1

signal has two spread spectrum signals, civil C/A and precision P, multiplexed on to a single

radio frequency carrier. In addition, the signals from multiple satellites must share the same

frequency channel. The GPS multiplexes the civil and the precision code on a single carrier in

phase quadrature and then employs Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) so that the

different satellite signals can share identical frequency band. C/A signal is modulated in
phase to L1 carrier and P-code on a quadrature phase (900 rotated) thus providing a constant

envelope modulated carrier even if the two signals have different power levels. The GPS

signals then have the form (neglecting the data modulation)

XPi (t ) cos 2ft  XGi (t ) sin 2ft

(2.5)

where, XPi represents the P-code and XGi represents the C/A code.

2.7.1 GPS Signal Characteristics

The center frequencies of the two GPS signals are coherently selected multiple of

10.23MHz frequency master clock. From the fundamental frequency the L1 and L2 are

generated as follows

L1 = 154 × 10.23=1575.42MHz

L2 = 120 × 10.23=1227.60MHz

Similarly, all the signal clock rates for the codes, radio frequency carriers and a

50bps-navigation data stream are coherently related. The frequency separation between L1

and L2 is 347.82MHz or 28.3% and is sufficient to permit accurate dual frequency estimation

of the ionosphere delay (the ratio of L1/L2=77/60 =1.2833). The GPS satellites transmitted at

frequencies L1 (1575.42MHz) and L2 (1227.6MHz) are modulated by the two types of codes

and the navigation message. The L1 signal is modulated by both 10.23MHz precision P-code

signal and 1.023MHz civil C/A signal to be used by the field user.

L2 L1
C/A
P(Y)
P(Y)

20.46 MHz
2.046 MHz
Figure 2.8 GPS signal spectrum
 The binary modulating signals are formed by P-code or C/A code, that is modulo-2

added to the 50bps binary data, D to form P  D and C/A  D respectively. The P-code can

be converted to a secure anti-spoof Y-code at the same clock rate and is labeled as P(Y) code.

The L1 signal has an in-phase component of its carrier that is modulated by the P-code, P  D

and a quadrature carrier component that is modulated by C/A code, C/A  D. The peak power

spectral density of the C/A code exceeds that of the P-code at L1 by approximately 13dB

because it is nominally 3dB stronger and has 1/10 the chip rate and bandwidth (Hofmann-

Wellenhof et al., 2001; Xu, 2003). L2 signal is bi-phase modulated by the P-code. Data

modulation on L2 depends on the ground command. Spectrum of the GPS signal is shown in

the Figure 2.8. Main lobe of C/A code is spread over 2.046MHz from null to null. Main lobe

of P(Y) code is spread over 20.46MHz from null to null. The power levels of L1 and L2 at

the output of satellite transmitters and at the input of receivers close to the earth are given in

Table 2.4.

Frequency C/A code (dB) P-code (dB)

Transmitted Received Transmitted Received
L1 26.8 -160 23.8 -163
L2 ---- ---- 19.7 -166
1)
2) Table 2.4 Comparison of power levels of L1 and L2 frequencies

2.7.2 Complete Signal Structure

The signal leaving the antenna of the kth satellite can be modeled as (Figure 2.9)

S k  Ap ( P(t )  D(t )) sin(2f1t   )  Ac (C (t )  D(t )) cos(2f1t   ) 

Ap ( P(t )  D(t ) sin(2f 2t   )

(2.6)

where, Ap = Amplitude of the P-code.

P(t) =  1 , which represents the phase of the P-code,

D(t) =  1 , which represents navigation data code,

 f1 = L1 frequency (1575.42MHz)

f2 = L2 frequency (1227.60MHz)

 = Initial phase,

Ac = Amplitude of the C/A Code,

C(t) =  1 , which represents the phase of the C/A code,

Both C/A and P-codes are of a class called product of two different code generators clocked

at the same rate where the delay between the two code generators defines the satellite code

(Kaplan, 1996). The specific component codes forming the product code for P and C/A are

quite different, but the principle is similar. Typical values of GPS parameters are given in

Table 2.5.
(C (t )  D(t )) cos(2f1t   )

+900
f1
L1 Carrier L1
-3 dB
1575.42 MHz  Signal

( P(t )  D(t )) cos(2f1t   )

C(t) C(t)  D(t)
C/A-Code
1.023MHz

D(t)
Navigation
Data
50Hz

P(Y)-Code
P(t) C(t)  D(t)
10.23MHz
L2
Signal
f2
L2 Carrier
1227.60MHz
( P(t )  D(t )) cos(2f 2 t   )

Figure 2.9 Generation of GPS L1 and L2 signals

Atomic clock frequency fo=10.23 MHz

Signal carrier L1 154  fo
Frequency L1 1575.42MHz
Wavelength L1 19.05cm
 Signal carrier L2 120  fo
Frequency L2 1227.60MHz
Wavelength L2 24.45cm
P-code frequency (chipping rate) fo=10.23MHz
P-code wavelength P 29.31m
P-code period 266 days, 7 days/satellite
C/A code frequency (chipping rate) fo/10=1.023MHz
C/A code wavelength 293.1m
C/A code period 1msec
Navigation message frequency 50 bps
Frame length 30sec

Table 2.5 Typical values of GPS parameters

Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) modulation:

The GPS signal is an RF carrier modulated using the BPSK modulation method. All

of the data information that the satellite sends to the user receiver is encoded onto the RF

carrier using BPSK. BPSK modulation is a constant amplitude modulation scheme. In this

both data and codes use BPSK to modulate the transmitted carrier. Here GPS signal is a

phase modulated signal with  =0, π, which is referred as BPSK. Figure 2.10 represents the

Binary Phase Shift Keying.

Cycle

Carrier

+1
-1 Code
\

Modulated
Carrier

Figure 2.10 Binary phase shift keying

Antenna
 154
1575.42MHz
1575.42MHz
Carrier BPSK
freq. L1 carrier Modulator
generator
1575.42M
Hz
10.23MHz  10 1.023MHz BPSK
Base
Atomic Time pulse for 1.023MHz C/A code 1.023MHz
band generator 1period
clock C/A generator
Frequency = 1ms = 1023
1.023MHz C/A code
10.23MHz chips
 Figure 2.11 satellite signal generation with BPSK modulation

The C/A and P-codes are combined with the binary navigation data using modulo-2

addition. In modulo-2 addition, if the code chip and the data are the same (both are 0‟s or

both are 1‟s), the result is 0; and if both are different, the result is 1. The composite binary

signal is then impressed upon the carrier in a process called modulation. The specific form of

modulation used is called Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) in which a 0 bit leaves the

carrier signal unchanged; and a 1 bit multiplies the carrier by -1, which is equivalent to

shifting the phase of the sinusoidal signal by 180o. At code transmission from 0 to 1 or from 1

to 0, the phase of the carrier signal is shifted by 180o. General BPSK modulation for L1

signal is shown in Figure 2.11 and the corresponding waveforms are shown in Figure 2.12.

0 0 0
Data, 0 1 1 1 1
50 bit/s

1
C/A code
(PRN-18) 0
1.023 bit/s

1
Data
modulated by 0
C/A code

L1 carrier
1575.42 MHz

BPSK
modulated
L1 carrier
 Figure 2.12 BPSK modulated GPS signal

The following time pulses and frequencies required are generated from the atomic clock:

 The 50 Hz data pulse.

 The C/A code (a PRN-code broadcast at 1.023 MHz), which modulates the data using

an exclusive-or operation (X-OR) spreading the data over the frequency of the civil

L1 carrier (1575.42 MHz)

The data modulated by the C/A-code modulates the L1 carrier in turn by using Binary

Phase Shift Keying (BPSK). With every change in the modulated data there is a 180° change

in the L1 carrier phase.

2.8 Errors in GPS position fixing

The error source that limits the GPS system performance can be classified into three

groups as given in the Table 2.6 (Hoffmann-Wellenhof et al., 2001; Kaplan, 1996). Some of

these errors can be estimated and corrected, and some of them are common to users in a given

area of operation.

S. Error Effect Description of the error Error budget

No. Source (1 error)(m)
1 Satellite Clock bias Errors in the transmitted clock 2.1m
Orbital errors Errors in the transmitted location of the 2.1m
satellite
2 Signal Tropospheric Errors in the corrections of pseudorange 0.7m
propagatio delay caused by tropospheric effects
n Ionospheric Errors in the corrections of pseudorange 4.0m-100m (can go
delay caused by ionospheric effects up to 100m during
peak solar times)
 3 Receiver Clock bias Errors in the receiver's measurement of 0.5m
range caused by receiver clock error,
thermal noise, software accuracy.
Multipath Errors caused by reflected signals 1.4m
entering the receiver antenna

Table 2.6 GPS error budget

Major error sources are described as follows:

i) SV clock errors: Individual SV clocks, although highly stable, may deviate from GPS

system time. Even though the navigation message transmitted by the SV contains the

corrections towards the clock drifts, there are certain uncorrected clock deviations

which cause errors in the pseudorange estimates.

ii) Ephemeris errors: To compute the pseudorange of the user with respect to a satellite,

the user should know the position of the satellite. This information is transmitted by

the satellite as part of the navigation message. The position of the satellite is dynamic

one and is influenced by gravitational field, solar pressures. The estimation of the

position by a ground master control station is subject to errors due to clock drifts and

processing delays in the monitoring stations. The estimated positions of the satellites

are uploaded periodically to the respective ones. The errors in the estimation of the

satellites position results in pseudorange errors and are to be corrected at the user level

(Hofmann et al., 2001).

iii) Multipath: The carrier wave propagates along almost straight line even though there

are small bending effects due to the presence of the atmosphere. Multipath is caused by

extraneous reflections from nearby metallic objects, ground or water surfaces reaching

the antenna. This has a number of effects: it may cause signal interference between the

direct and reflected signal leading to noisier measurement, or it may confuse the

tracking electronics of the hardware resulting in a biased measurement that is the sum
 of the satellite-to-reflector distance and the reflector to antenna distance. The

theoretical maximum multipath bias that can occur in pseudorange data is

approximately half the code chip length i.e., 150m for C/A code ranges and 15m for P-

code ranges. Typical errors are much lower (generally < 10m). The carrier phase

multipath does not exceed about /4 (5~6cm) for L1 and L2.

iv) Receiver Clock Offset: GPS receivers are usually equipped with quartz crystal

oscillators, which have the advantages that they are small, consume little power and

are relatively inexpensive. In addition, quartz crystal oscillators have good short-term

stability. The clock offset, usually in the range of several thousands of nanoseconds

with regard to the GPS time, is treated as unknown parameter together with the three

coordinate components. By finding differences between satellite observations, the

receiver clock error can be removed (Langley, 1993).

v) Tropospheric delay error: The transmitted GPS signal travels through the

atmosphere layers before it is received by the GPS receiver‟s antenna. The atmosphere

consists of two main regions: the troposphere and the ionosphere. The troposphere

layer is a neutral part of the atmosphere, which causes attenuation, delay, and short-

term variations (scintillation) of the GPS signals. The magnitude of the tropospheric

delay errors depends on the temperature, the atmosphere pressure, and the partial

pressure of water vapour. The magnitude of delay errors is highly correlated with the

satellite elevation angles, where it increases significantly with lower elevation angles.

The tropospheric delay is the sum of dry and wet components. It can be expressed

mathematically as follows:

dtrop = ddry mdry + dwet mwet

(2.7)

where, dtrop = total tropospheric delay,

 ddry and dwet = dry delay and wet delay respectively at zenith, and

mdry and mwet = the corresponding mapping factors to map the zenith delay to

the slant direction of satellite-receiver line of sight.

The dry component contributes approximately 80%-90% of the total tropospheric

delay, and it can be accurately estimated, while the wet component contributes 10%-

20% of the delay. The wet component is difficult to estimate due to the unpredictable

nature of atmospheric water vapour. The dry delay at the zenith is about 2.3m, while

the wet delay is approximately 1-80cm (Spilker, 1996). The troposphere layer is a non-

dispersive medium for GPS frequencies, which means that the tropospheric range

errors cannot be cancelled through the use of dual frequency GPS measurements

unlike the ionospheric delay. The tropospheric range delay can be estimated using a

number of models. The dry delay can be estimated with an accuracy of less than 1%,

while the wet part can only be estimated with accuracy of 10%-20%.

vi) Ionospheric delay error: The second region of the atmosphere is the ionosphere,

which extends approximately 50 to 1500km above the surface of the earth. The

ionosphere is an ionized layer consisting of ions and electrons. In this region, the group

and phase velocities are not the same as the velocity of light. This fact introduces an

ionospheric range delay error.

2.9 Need for GPS Modernization

Presently standalone GPS civilian users have only access to C/A-code on L1. Because

of this, they cannot make a dual frequency ionospheric delay correction. The other major

problems are:

i) L1 and L2 signals are not afforded total spectrum protection and they are relatively

weak due to background noise (-160dBm). The band 1559-1610MHz, of which L1 is

 a part, is allocated to Aeronautical Radio Navigation Services (ARNS). GLONASS

and Galileo also have allocations in this band.

ii) GPS signals with the present power levels cannot readily penetrate into concrete and

steel buildings or underground and are susceptible to interference and jamming. The

reflected signals (multipath) cause position errors.

iii) Protection from the hostile use of GPS while unaffecting the military users PPS.

iv) For civilian users, signal redundancy is not there to improve accuracy and availability.

To overcome these problems modernization of GPS is needed.

2.9.1 GPS Modernization

GPS modernization program aims to provide signal redundancy to improve position

accuracy, signal availability and system integrity (Van Dierendonck A. J., and Spilker J,

2001). It includes the addition of civil code (C/A code) on the L2 frequency and two new

military codes (M-codes) on both the L1 and L2 frequencies. These codes will be added to

the last 12 Block IIR satellites. The availability of two civil codes (C/A code on both L1 and

L2 frequencies) allows a user with a standalone GPS receiver to correct the effect of the

ionospheric error. With the removal of Selective availability (SA) and sufficient number of

satellites with new capabilities available, the GPS horizontal accuracy will be about 8.5m

(95% of the time). For civil aviation purpose, the addition of C/A code to L2 is not sufficient

due to potential interference from the Monopulse Secondary Surveillance (MSS) Radars

which operate on L2 band. For this purpose, a third civil signal at 1176.45MHz (called L5)

will be added to the first 12 Block II F satellites along with the C/A code on L1 and L2 as

part of the modernization program (Rabbany, 2002).

The third frequency will be robust and will have 6dB higher power relative to L1 (-

154 dB). L5 will have a wide broad cast bandwidth (minimum of 20MHz) and a higher

chipping rate (10.23MHz), which provide higher accuracy under noisy and multipath
conditions. The new code will be longer than the current C/A code, which reduces the system

self interference through the improvement of the auto and cross correlation properties. The

modernization of GPS will also include the studies for the next generation Block III satellites,

which will carry GPS into 2030. With this upgrade, the expected standalone GPS horizontal

accuracy will be 6m (95% of the time) or better. A full constellation of GPS satellites with

C/A code on L1 and L2 is expected around 2014 and with new civil code at L5 around 2015

(Misra, 2001). The additional signals transmitted by modernized satellites will improve the

anti-jamming capability, increased protection against anti-spoofing, shorten the time to first

fix, and provide a civilian “safety of life” signal (L5) within the protected Aeronautical Radio

Navigation Service (ARNC) frequency band.

2.10 Results

In GNSS, the satellites takes around 12hours to complete one revolution arround the

earth. Hence during 24hours of time the same satellite will be tracked twice with certain

interval of time. Figure 2.13 shows visibility of the satellites SV PRN 1 to 31 for a period of

02:00hours to 24:00hours with 50 elevation mask angle. The satellite visibility depends on the

elevation angle used in the receiver set up. As an illustration, satellite SV PRN 18 is visible

for a period of 9:00hours i.e from 2:00hours to 11.00:00hours over the entire day and satellite

SV PRN 31 is visible for a period of 5:00hours i.e. from 8:00hours to 13:00hours over the

entire day. Each of the satellite is continuously in view for four to eight hours (nearly) in a

day. These satellites were tracked by the GPS receiver located at Department of Electronics

and Communication, Andhra University College of Engineering, Visakhapatnam

(17.730N/83.3190E) on 21st December 2011. Figure 2.14 shows the number of satellites in

view at an epoch during 02:00hours to 24:00hours. More number of satellites can be visible

with low elevation mask angle. Generally, 50 elevation mask angle is used with which at least

6 to 10 satellites are visible all the day.

 Figure 2.13 Visibility of the SV PRN 1 to 31 during 02:00 to 24:00hours at Andhra
University College of Engineering, Visakhapatnam
Number of visible satellites at Dept. of ECE, AU, Vishakhapatnam on 21st December 2011

13

12

10
Number of satellites visible

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 23
Local time (hrs)

Figure 2.14 Number of satellites in view at an epoch during 02:00 to 24:00hours local time at
Andhra University College of Engineering, Visakhapatnam
Figure 2.14 shows visibility of all the 31 satellites over the day. It can be observed

that minimum of 6 satellites are in view and maximum is 13 satellites. As an example, at

22:00hours the number of satellites in view are 13 (maximum) and at 9:00hours, number of

satellites in view are 7(minimum). It is observed that at every epoch the number of visible

satellites is more than the minimum required number of satellites (i.e. four satellites) to

calculate the receiver position.

2.10 Conclusions

At present all Indian airports are provided with the ground based navigational aids

such as NDB, VOR and ILS. These navigational aids performance is limited by the

propagation errors, angular nature of radiation beams, low accuracy, high maintenance, and

installation costs. Due to these limitations, International Civil aviation Organization (ICAO)

has adopted the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) as the future air navigation

system (FANS). At present GPS is the only GNSS that operates with full constellation (32

satellites). All over the world, above or near the earth surface a minimum of 8 to 12 satellite

are visible at any given time. The fundamentals of GPS including its architecture, principle of

operation, signal structure, various error sources that cause the measured position inaccurate

are discussed in this chapter. Understanding of these fundamentals is essential in defining the

navigation problem and developing the navigation solution for precise applications. The

position accuracy of a navigation system also depends on the geometric distribution of the

satellites. The satellite geometry for various elevation angles observed from Andhra

University, Visakhapatnam, India are presented in this chapter is helpful in analyzing and

finding a solution to the present day navigation problems that suit the Indian subcontinent.